friday nights spent with you
by yokedequally
Summary: 'She sniffed trying to cover it, but as Puck raised her chin with his hand, a solitary tear ran down her left cheek. "I just, I.." she tried to get out, but her sounds were muffled by Puck pulling her into a tight hug.' Rated for language


**Had this random storyline pop into my head a few days ago, so I decided to give it a try, and this is what came out. Hope you enjoy!**

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It was the typical Friday night for Noah Puckerman, after spending a hard day at school, throwing geeks into dumpsters, flirting with cute girls and sleeping in class, he settled down into the corner of his worn sofa and took a swig of his beer, focusing his eyes on the random film that was playing on his TV screen. Like every other Friday night, his mom was working the night shift at the local hospital, while his sister had gone to stay with his Nana Connie.

Puck always took this opportunity to spend time with his best friend, as they weren't able to see much of each other in school hours. Just as he was about to take the final sip of his cold beer, he heard his front door being pushed open harder than necessary and hitting the wall behind it. He'd never seen a reason for Santana to knock before she came into his house, hell, she'd had her own key for years now, given to her by his mom, May. Santana had practically lived with Puck's family when her dad left and her mom decided that her partying lifestyle was more important than looking after her youngest daughter.

She slammed the door behind her and it took a moment before she appeared in the doorway of his front room, waving her beers and her fight club DVD at him. She threw the DVD at his head, pointing to the dvd player, "It's Fight Club time, Puckerman!" she exclaimed as she disappeared into his kitchen, pouring one of her beers into a glass (she was far more sophisticated than Puck), grabbing another for him and placing the remainder of her drink into his fridge. She returned to the living room just in time to see Puck finish putting the film into his tv. She walked round the room, placing his new beer down next to his nearly empty bottle and picked up the picture of herself and Hannah that sat on the Puckerman mantelpiece. "I love this damn picture, how fucking cute does your sister look?" she half questioned him, setting the picture back down where she'd lifted it from. Puck looked at her and half smiled, "She has always liked you better than me" he replied with a small chuckle.

Throwing himself back down onto his old couch, he let out a chuckle, "and this is with you're my favourite too" he stated as he picked up his new beer, "thanks, San". She smiled back at him and sat herself down on the sofa to his left, curling her legs up underneath her and reaching for her drink. Puck looked at her for a moment, getting the feeling that this Friday night wasn't going to consist of their usual, Fight Club, getting drunk and making out a little. There had never been anything romantic between them, sure they made out, and they had slept together in the past, but it'd never been anything that really involved emotions. They were best friends, and anything physical they did together was because they felt safe and comfortable enough with each other, to just make the other happy, if only for a little while. But this was different; the way Santana had curled up into herself, her body language was screaming that something was wrong; this was worlds apart from the Santana he usually saw around this time on a Friday night. His Santana would be sprawled out on the couch, making herself at home, probably managing to lay her body over Puck somehow, just to annoy him. He knew that something different was coming, and he wasn't sure he liked it. He'd never been good at anything like this, which was why he was especially thankful to have had Santana around when his little sister, Hannah, had started asking awkward questions. But Santana had always been there for him, when his dad decided it'd be a good idea to come back a few years ago, when the whole babygate epidemic with Quinn started kicking off, and when he was trying to make it up to Finn, he'd spent night after night with her, getting drunk, talking to her, or just sitting with her, allowing himself to cry and be truly vulnerable when he needed to, because she was the only person he felt comfortable enough around to be able to do so. She'd been there for him, no matter what, so he realised that this time, he needed to be there for her.

He glanced at her once more out of the corner of his eye, grabbed the remote and hit pause. He leant forward; placing his bottle on a placemat, not using one wasn't worth the hassle he'd get off his mom when she returned from work. He twisted towards her slightly, leaning back against the couch once more and resting his arm along the back of the sofa, behind where Santana was sitting. She sipped her drink steadily and looked up at Puck, who was looking at her, a look of sympathy and confusion plastered on his face at the same time. He just shook his head at her, "Come on San, I've know you, hmmm, nearly my whole damn life, I know when there's something wrong with you. So just tell me". She looked back at him confused. She was almost shocked that he'd been able to tell that there was a problem with her; she never thought that Puck truly took notice of anything around him, apart from hot girls, of course. "No, erm, no, I..I.." she started, stumbling over her words as she did, shaking her head slightly, allowing her bangs to fall infront of her face. Puck looked at her. "Santana" he started, already worrying the Latina, as he only called her by her full name when he was being serious, usually it was just 'San', or 'S' when he was feeling particularly lazy. "I'm not starting Fight Club until you let me know what's going on". Santana looked down at the drink in her hand, taking a slow sip and setting it down next to Puck's on the table. She moved towards him slightly, turning to face him and sitting cross-legged on the couch. She folded her arms across her chest, wanting to tell him everything, but not thinking she'd be physically able to face him if everything backfired.

"Is this about Brit?" He asked nonchalantly, lowering his chin at an attempt to look her in the eyes, taking his right hand and using it to raise her chin. She was already prepared to defend herself and completely deny his accusation, like she had done with everyone else who had questioned her sexuality, or her relationship with Brittany. But then she realised who she was talking to, and before she'd even looked up, she could feel the tears forming at the rim of her eye. She sniffed trying to cover it, but as Puck raised her chin with his hand, a solitary tear ran down her left cheek. "I just, I.." she tried to get out, but her sounds were muffled by Puck pulling her into a tight hug. As her face was pressed against his chest, she felt like she could finally let herself go, and the tears flowed freely.

Puck circled his arms completely around her tiny frame, which was now shaking from Santana's sobbing. His right hand took its place rubbing up and down her back, in an attempt to soothe her, while he rested his chin on top of her head. After what seemed like hours, but in reality was really only a few minutes, Santana's sobs had been reduced to just her sniffing, so she took this chance to pull away from Puck, to stop herself from breaking out into another round of sobbing. "I'm sorry, I just. I.." she started. "No." he said defiantly, "don't be fucking stupid, Santana. I can't count the amount of times you've helped me through my shit, so don't even start with all that 'I'm sorry' bullshit to me." She felt herself able to chuckle. "I just want to explain. Brit, I..I like girls. I just..." "I know San. I knew before you knew." He pulled back a little, letting go of her and allowing her to see the serious expression on his face. She became flustered, and a little embarrassed, which was completely unlike Santana. So, she decided to do what she does best, and she punched him in the arm. The look of pure shock on Puck's face brought a smile to hers once again, as he wasn't expecting what she'd just done. "What the hell was that for!" "You knew! You fucking knew all along and you never said anything to me!" He chuckled a little before sighing, "Because it's never mattered San. To me, you'll always be the feisty little bitch who stole my toy car, after I pushed you into the sandpit on the third day of first grade." She laughed, thinking back to the memory, but stopped, as a sign that she should continue. "So no, I never said anything to you, because I don't care! I care that you're gay as much as I care that Finn is straight. You're still my San. I love you, you crazy bitch." She smiled, laughing at how Puck-like it was to tone down his 'I love you' with 'crazy bitch'. She just nodded, leaning back closer into him again, snuggling into his chest and he slung his arm around her waist. "I love you too, thankyou" she said as she let go of a breath she didn't realise she was holding.

He looked confused for a moment, before looking down at her. "No way, wait. Did you actually think that I'd react badly to that? What the hell San, I thought you knew me better than that? He said, half offended, but more concerned about looking after the girl that lay in his arms. "No, I know. It's just that..well, other people that have been questioning me haven't been so..supportive". "Who?" Puck asked, getting angry that people had been treating his best friend like shit, and he hadn't realised, or been there to knock them out. She shrugged gently, "Karofsky, Jewfro.." "Don't worry about them. First thing Monday, they'll regret ever laying eyes on you." Santana chuckled, looking up at him and smiling a genuine smile, for the first time in what felt like forever. She felt protected and loved unconditionally as she lay in Puck's arms.

As she rested her head back down on his chest, she felt his lips meet to top of her head. "Don't worry about Brit, everything'll work out". She just nodded, sadly. "Enough with being pussy's now, Puckerman, let's get our Fight Club on!" she said, trying to change the mood a little. He laughed at her, grabbed the remote and hit play, both of them staring at the screen like it was the first time either of them had seen this movie.

When his mother returned from work later that night, she'd find her son sleeping on their run down sofa, with the girl she'd come to think of as her own daughter laid in his arms, while the Fight Club DVD menu played quietly on the screen in front of them. She smiled to herself, walking over to the television and switching it off. As she walked out of the room, she glanced sideways, to the picture set on the table next to the sofa, taken of Noah and Santana in almost the exact same position a few years ago. Her eyes moved to check on the sleeping teenagers one last time and she retreated to her own room, shutting the door quietly behind her.

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**Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed . Please review!**


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